“It did catch us off guard. But they’re kids and we will work with them to make sure they learn and make the right decisions in the future,” Friese said.

There has been teachings in the school on situations like this and there will continue to be more education on it, Friese said, adding that Stonington is not the only high school that’s encountered something of this nature.

This email is to inform you that we are currently investigating recently discovered incidents of “sexting” at Stonington High School. Sexting is sending, receiving, or forwarding sexually explicit messages, photographs or images, primarily between mobile phones. This is an active investigation that we are conducting with the assistance of Stonington Police Department. At this time, the families of the small number of students involved have been contacted. As you can imagine, the sensitivity of this type of investigation is most important as we are dealing with adolescents. The safety and emotional well being of our students is our top priority. With that said, we as a community need to exercise discretion and not make this the topic of online discussion groups that could be more damaging to our kids. I encourage all parents and guardians to have a discussion with your children about the ramifications of these behaviors. We have in the past and will continue to have frank and open discussions with our students to protect them and to minimize this type of electronic activity. If you have any concern about your child, do not hesitate to contact their school counselor or administration.